Let us pray: Living God, help us to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that,

Transcription

1 Sermon Imagining Miracles John 2:1-11 Let us pray: Living God, help us to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding, we may believe, and believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do; through Christ our Lord. Amen. A young man in college was reading the bible when the liberal professor walked by. Wow said the young man. The professor, interested in what caused his excitement, asked the young man what he was reading. The young man said that God had parted the Red Sea to allow the Hebrew people to cross. The professor started to explain how at that time in history there was a drought and really the sea was only about three inches deep, so it was not really a miracle. Oh said the disheartened young man as he went back to reading. Wow! the boy said again, even more excited. The professor said, What is it now? to which the young man replied, God just drowned the whole Egyptian army in three inches of water! The professor respond and said, that is indeed a miracle. Last Thursday marks the six years since the Miracle on the Hudson, when the US Airways Flight 1549 crash landed on the river with no fatalities. On that day we saw on television people standing on the wings of the plane. Not a single person died on that day. Today it is called Miracle on Hudson River. Bernie Siegel, in her best seller, Love, Medicine & Miracles defined Miracles as something for which there is no explanation. If l can take a survey this morning, all of you will have a miracle story in your life. Sometimes we confuse a miracle and a blessing in our lives. I will look at miracles as the supernatural intervention of God and a blessing is God s power that 1

2 flow through natural channels. I consider a blessing better than a miracle. If you live your life from miracle to another, then you are living your life from crisis to crisis. The Gospel account of the miracle at Cana is really astonishing in its simplicity and never lose the richness that it came with. There was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage with his disciples. When they ran out of wine, Jesus mother said to him, they have no more wine. Then Jesus said to her, O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Wow! What a mother with confidence. She has the confidence in her son even though he said he was not ready. There were six stone jars standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus told them to fill all the jars with water and they did. And he said to them to draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast. So they took it to them. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did know where it came from, the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when the guest were drunk, they now brought the good wine. This, the first of his signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in Him. Jesus Christ performed the first miracle of his ministry on Earth by changing water to wine according to the scripture. The question is why, out of all the types of miracles Jesus could have chosen to do, did he choose this one? It may have been because of the powerful symbolism involved. The water that Jesus used came from jars that Jewish people used before meals for ceremonial washing, which symbolized purifying themselves. By changing that water into wine 2

3 which later be used in the Christian sacrament of communion to represent Jesus blood washing away our sins. In almost every marriage ceremony there is always at least one mistake. There are times when the bride will recite something different from what the pastor ask her to say. The same goes for the groom. But they will just laugh and move on. There is no such thing as perfect wedding. There are always going to be problems some of them small and some of them large. This morning we are talking about a wedding with a big problem the wine ran out. As soon as the wine is finished, the wedding is over. The Jewish wedding will last for days. Mary did not want the guest to go home, so she wanted to keep the joy to continue but they were running on empty. Some of us here this morning might be running our lives on empty. You might think that you have enough resources that will carry you to the end of your journey, but your reserves have just been depleted. Your joy is just about gone. It is going to take a miracle in order to renew the supply of joy in your life. This morning, Jesus wants to work a miracle in your life. He wants to fill you with a new wine. He wants to restore your joy so that you will have more than enough joy to make it the rest of the way. The wedding narrative correlates to mankind s redemption. It shows that Christ is pivotal to the plan salvation. The wedding depicts God s covenant in progress. We see how it still continues and given to the Church, the servants of the most high God. Miracles happen when we understand that Jesus cares about our everyday needs. Jesus mother knows that he cares about people. He cares about all our needs, not just our spiritual needs. He cares about people being unnecessarily embarrassed. He cares about people enjoying themselves. Jesus is the kind of guy you want in your party the party of your life. Jesus was in many parties according to the New Testament, but he was not dancing and getting drunk, he was 3

4 teaching and healing. Jesus is caring for you and me. We saw his compassion for people and his mother during this wedding. He showed his compassion again for his mother at Calvary when he told John to take care of his mother. Miracles will happen in our lives when we understand that Jesus transforms our everyday experiences. Jesus did not come to give us information, he came to give us a transformation. He changes things. He has a way of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. He did not come to bring new ideas, he came to make new people. The water did not just appear to be wine, it was transformed into wine. The mood of the party was transformed, the disciples transformed. He turned grim faces into relieved smiles; whimpers of fear into songs of hope; sorrow into joy and above all He turns sin into grace and death into life. It was during this time in Cana, John wrote that Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. Thirdly, miracles happen when we understand that Jesus extravagantly provides for our everyday requests. Jesus turned 180 gallons of wine to be consumed by the guests. That is a lot of wine to my estimate. Why did Jesus give so much wine? It is because he is an extravagant giver. Jesus never give you just enough; he always gives superabundantly. Jesus did the same things later when he fed the 5000 men and their families and when everyone had finished eating there were still 12 baskets of fish and bread leftover. He gave them more than they could possibly eat. That is the way God gives. Sometimes it is hard for us to fully understand God not only meeting our needs but providing for us an abundance. That is the story of grace. There is no measure to grace. There will always be enough grace to meet our needs. The Cana miracle was evidence of Christ s ability and willingness to supply our needs. They have no wine, said the mother of Jesus. What they lacked, Jesus supplied in abundance and in a way far superior to their expectations. God supplies grace that we may give to others. In God s 4

5 covenant we experience grace, love, forgiveness, commitment, acceptance, intimacy, and even sacrifice, that our deepest needs might be met. Christian family members respond to the call to be gracious, to love, to serve one another, and to forgive just as He loves, serves and forgives us. God uses people that cross our path to bring miracles in our lives. Today, am going to ask you to reach out to somebody you know that might be having worries, are lonely and not happy. They have got bad medical report, lost their job and other problems. By just making a phone call, you are a miracle in their life. You will restore hope, happiness, and above all, you will restore confidence in their life. Be a miracle to someone that is in a greater need today. May God bless you all! 5